Igor Begelman, Clarinet.

THE MUSICIANS CLUB OF NEW YORK
Presents

IGOR BEGELMAN, CLARINET
ALEXANDER MOUTOUZKINE, PIANIST
with
IVAN MUTUZKIN, FLUTE

Sunday, October 28th, 2012 at 4:30 PM

Liederkranz Concert Hall
6 East 87th Street
New York City

 

PROGRAM

Canzonetta.................................................. Gabriel Pierne (1863-1937)

Dance Preludes....................................... Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994)

Igor Begelman, clarinet; Alexander Moutouzkine, piano

 

Carmen Fantasy for flute and piano...................... G. Heinemeyer (b. 1952)

Ivan Mutuzkin, flute; Alexander Moutouzkine, piano

 

Premiere Rhapsodie...................................... Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Suite from Porgy and Bess...................... Gershwin/Heifetz, arr. I. Begelman

Igor Begelman, clarinet; Alexander Moutouzkine, piano

 

Igor Begelman, Clarinet

Clarinetist Igor Begelman's virtuosity and imagination on his instrument have been praised by critics as "remarkable displays of music making" and have earned him an impressive list of prizes, engagements and honors, including an Avery Fisher Career Grant awarded to outstanding American artists.

In recent seasons Mr. Begelman appeared as a soloist with the I Musici de Montreal, Houston Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Boston Classical Orchestra, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Sinfonia Celestis, Astral and Chappaqua Chamber Orchestras, as well as in recitals at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, New York's Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, 92nd Street Y, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Boston's Faneuil Hall, LA's Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, at Caramoor and Ravinia Festivals. Mr. Begelman has also soloed with the Bangor, Key West, Fairbanks and Ridgefield Symphonies, Bienne Symphony Orchestra, Odense Simfoniker, New Haven, Savannah and Greenwich Symphonies. He has performed recitals in Western and Eastern Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Israel.

Equally accomplished as a recitalist and a chamber musician, Mr. Begelman performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has appeared at numerous festivals throughout the world, including Casals, Marlboro, Moab, Alpenglow, Juneau, Caramoor, Tucson, Tanglewood and Schleswig-Holstein. An avid proponent of new music, he has also premiered compositions by Jennifer Higdon, Anton Kuerti, Alex Krasotov, David Robert Coleman, Meyer Kupferman, Elliot Schwartz, and Ralph Shapey.

Mr. Begelman was awarded top prizes at the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition in Denmark and the Geneva International Competition in Switzerland. In addition, he has earned top prizes at William C. Byrd Competition, Koussevitsky Competition, International Clarinet Society Competition, Heida Hermanns International Competition, Tilden Prize Competition and Crane New Music Competition among others. His honors also include the Special Prize at the 41st Munich International Competition and awards from the Altamura/Caruso Foundation and Salon de Virtuosi. In 2008 and 2010 Mr. Begelman received BRIO award from the Bronx Council for the Arts. He was also featured as a special guest in the Music section of "Lifestyles" magazine.

An active educator, Mr. Begelman has served as a professor of Clarinet at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and as the Director of Woodwind Program at the Bowdoin International Music Festival. He now teaches at Brooklyn College and Sarah Lawrence College. Mr. Begelman has guest lectured at Yale, Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music in addition to many master classes throughout the US.

Raised in Kiev, Ukraine, Igor Begelman came to the United States in 1989. He received his Master's degree from The Juilliard School of Music and a Bachelor's degree from The Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Begelman has also received valuable mentoring from Astral Artistic Services, a Philadelphia-based organization guiding emerging young artists.

Mr. Begelman currently resides in New York with his wife Larisa, daughter Eve and son Joshua. His affiliation with the Piatigorsky Foundation allows him to teach and perform classical music in less traditional settings. For more information please visit www.jwentworth.com.

Alexandre Moutouzkine, Piano

Russian-American pianist Alexandre Moutouzkine, has toured throughout Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Italy, and North and South America, as well as in China and Japan. In recent seasons, he has appeared as soloist with the Tivoli Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Television Orchestra of Spain, Cleveland Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Valencia Philharmonic, the Gran Canaria and Tenerife symphonies in the Canary Islands, the National Symphonic Orchestra of Panama, the National Symphonic Orchestra of Cuba, the Israel Philharmonic, and the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra of the Czech Republic. His recital in London’s Wigmore Hall was hailed by International Piano magazine as “grandly organic, with many personal and pertinent insights, offering a thoughtful balance between rhetoric and fantasy…technically dazzling.” Mr. Moutouzkine’s performance of Chopin Études in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory was recorded live and released on the Classical Music Archives label in Russia.

The winner of many renowned piano competition awards, Mr. Moutouzkine claimed top prizes at the Walter W. Naumburg, Cleveland, Montreal, and Arthur Rubinstein international competitions, among others. He is a winner of Astral Artists’ 2009 National Auditions, and The Philadelphia Inquirer said of his Philadelphia recital debut under Astral’s auspices, “Moutouzkine’s kind of talent has an impact on his surroundings…[he gives] clarity to his musical choices, but heat to the conviction behind them,” and went on to say that his is “a career that will matter.” His recital with violinist Kristin Lee on Astral’s series also received critical acclaim. Highlights of the upcoming season include Mr. Moutouzkine’s return to Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, chamber music concerts with violinist Mikhail Simonyan at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Bremen Musikfest, debut appearances with the West Virginia Orchestra, Flint Symphony, and the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, and performances of “Between the Keys,” a program of the complete solo piano works of John Corigliano.

Recent highlights include Mr. Moutouzkine’s debuts at the Great Hall of the Berlin Philharmonic in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Berliner Symphoniker, a chamber music concert in Lincoln Center’s Kaplan Penthouse with the Jasper String Quartet, an appearance with The Philadelphia Orchestra on its “Beyond the Score” series, performances in Colombia, a recital in Puerto Rico, and recitals throughout Asia, including appearances in the Beijing Concert Hall and Japan’s Yokohama Hall. The Greenwich Citizen claimed of his recent debut with the Greenwich Symphony in Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3 that Mr. Moutouzkine is “poised to join the pantheon of greats…outperforming even the composer himself.” Following the success of a performance of his own solo piano transcription of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, performed live alongside specially commissioned animation entitled Who Stole The Mona Lisa?, he opens Astral’s 2012-2013 season with a repeat performance, in Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Alexandre Moutouzkine holds a Master’s degree and post-graduate degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Solomon Mikowsky. He holds undergraduate degrees from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover and Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Music Academy. He is currently a teaching associate at the Manhattan School of Music.

Alexandre Moutouzkine is an Astral artist.

Ivan Mutuzkin, Flute

A native of Russia, flutist Ivan Mutuzkin captivates audiences with his stunning virtuosity combined with heartfelt lyricism and interpretive sensitivity. He has won top prizes at international and nation flute competitions such as All-Russian competition (Russia, Saint-Petersburg, 1999), The Fifth International Woodwind Competition (Russia, Tolyatti, 1999), International Competition “Virtuosos of XX Century” (Russia Moscow, 2001), International Competition of Performers (Tunbridge Wells, England, 2006) among others.

Ivan has performed as a soloist and with orchestras in Italy, Spain, Norway, England, and throughout his native Russia. He has been a teaching Artist in Residence at the Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory since 2009. Ivan is the author of book entitled "Experimental Flute in Twentieth Century Music" (based on examples of compositions for solo flute by foreign composers).

Having graduated from Nizhny Novgord music academy as a pianist and flutist Ivan has studied with renovated Russian flutist, professor of Gnesin Music School in Moscow Albert Hofmann. Ivan Mutuzkin is a recipient of numerous scholarships from Russian Ministry of Culture. In 2001 the Administration of Nizhny Novgorod has given him an honorable award for his achievements in the arts. Ivan has graduated Nizhny Novgorod State conservatory Magna Cum Laude.